'Miracle baby' survives 11-storey plunge from apartment building

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A 15-month-old boy described by doctors as a "miracle baby" was in critical condition at a Minneapolis hospital on Wednesday after surviving an 11-storey fall from the balcony of an apartment building.

Musa Dayib slipped through slits in the balcony railing and landed on a patch of mulch on Sunday, his family told reporters. He was rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center, a pediatric level-one trauma centre.

The boy suffered a concussion and fractures to his arms, ribs and spine. He also has a punctured lung, said Christine Hill, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

Dr. Tina Slusher, who is treating the baby, said he avoided any major head injury, and she has never before seen a child survive such a plunge.

"That's a gift from God to the family, because he shouldn't have made it," she told television broadcaster WCCO.